From 2010 to 2014 Richard Cobbett wrote Crapshoot, a column about bringing random obscure games back into the light. This week, get ready to READ ARTICLE. (Uh. Like normal.)Interactive fiction. Text adventures. In the days before graphics, or at least graphics that didn't make you want to poke your eyes out with a spork, they transported us into worlds of endless imagination, and even convinced a hitherto sane world that The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy game was anything other than appalling. As technology moved on, they became more and more of a niche genre—but never stopped evolving or being developed. Today, with powerful creation tools like Inform 7 and advanced world simulations on their side, modern interactive fiction is still capable of incredibly fun, very original concepts. Want to see a quick example? Yes? Well, that's lucky!Here's a quick taste of something only a game without graphics can hope to offer.9:05 is a game from 2000, and far, far from the most advanced IF out there. It's a… short game. I don't really want to say more than that. I will however say that if you want to play it for yourself, do so before reading on. You have been warned. It's one that I've mentioned to people a couple of times over the last month though, and I like it for its cleverness—so hopefully you will as well. We join our hero fast asleep in bed, about to be disturbed by the second worst sound anyone can hear in the morning.
From 2010 to 2014 Richard Cobbett wrote Crapshoot, a column about bringing random obscure games back into the light. This week, get ready to READ ARTICLE. (Uh. Like normal.)
Interactive fiction. Text adventures. In the days before graphics, or at least graphics that didn’t make you want to poke your eyes out with a spork, they transported us into worlds of endless imagination, and even convinced a hitherto sane world that The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game was anything other than appalling. As technology moved on, they became more and more of a niche genre—but never stopped evolving or being developed. Today, with powerful creation tools like Inform 7 and advanced world simulations on their side, modern interactive fiction is still capable of incredibly fun, very original concepts. Want to see a quick example? Yes? Well, that’s lucky!
Here’s a quick taste of something only a game without graphics can hope to offer.
9:05 is a game from 2000, and far, far from the most advanced IF out there. It’s a… short game. I don’t really want to say more than that. I will however say that if you want to play it for yourself, do so before reading on. You have been warned. It’s one that I’ve mentioned to people a couple of times over the last month though, and I like it for its cleverness—so hopefully you will as well. We join our hero fast asleep in bed, about to be disturbed by the second worst sound anyone can hear in the morning.
The phone rings.
how long have you been asleep? Sure, it was a tough night, but… This is bad. This is very bad.
The phone rings.
Bedroom (on the bed)
This bedroom is extremely spare, with dirty laundry scattered haphazardly all over the floor. Cleaner clothing is to be found in the dresser. A bathroom lies to the south, while a door to the east leads to the living room.
On the endtable are a telephone, a wallet (which is closed) and some keys.
The phone rings.
>
What do you do in that situation? What else?
>answer phone
You pick up the phone. « Hadley! » a shrill voice cries. « Hadley, haven’t you even left yet?? You knew that our presentation was at nine o’ clock sharp! First the thing with the printers, now this—there won’t even be enough left of you for Bowman to fire once he’s done with you. Now get the hell down here!! »
Click.
« Crap, » you think. It may not be the end of the world, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, interactive fiction often takes on much smaller scale situations than regular commercial games, if only because here, « And then the world blew up in a totally awesome fireball! » isn’t inherently that much more interesting than a well-written description of a character’s lips glistening as they lie. In a regular game, if the designer wants a plague of burning locusts to systematically destroy a castle, they have to convince a whole art and design team to make that happen. Here, « a swarm of burning locusts descended on the castle, rending it apart brick by brick… » is all anyone requires, with the player’s own mind filling in the details.
>stand
You get off the bed.
Bedroom
This bedroom is extremely spare, with dirty laundry scattered haphazardly all over the floor. Cleaner clothing is to be found in the dresser. A bathroom lies to the south, while a door to the east leads to the living room.
On the endtable are a telephone, a wallet (which is closed) and some keys.
>take keys
Taken.
>take wallet
Taken.
>look in wallet
You can’t see inside, since the wallet is closed.
>open wallet
You open the wallet, revealing a driver’s license and an ID card.
>look at license
BRIAN HADLEY
315 AVENIDA VICTORIA
EAST LAS MESAS, DO 88827
Driver’s license photos are generally far from flattering, and this one is no exception, but this photo looks a lot better than you look now.
>look at ID card
The size and shape of a credit card, this bears a magnetic strip on the back and some identification on the front:
BRIAN HADLEY
LOUNGENT TECHNOLOGIES
215 COLLINS STREET
LAS MESAS, DO 88701
Interactive fiction means adapting to so many different rules.
